Supreme Court asked to allow Arizona execution

PHOENIX — State prosecutors are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to deny
last-minute appeals on behalf of an Arizona death-row inmate scheduled for
execution Wednesday.

Richard Dale Stokley is one of two men convicted of murdering two 13-year-old
girls in Cochise County in 1991.

Stokley’s appeals contend he’s entitled to a new hearing on sentencing evidence
and that his death sentence violates his constitutional rights because the other
man convicted in the case is already free after serving 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors said the disparity in sentences is OK because the other man
negotiated a plea agreement. And they said the Arizona Supreme Court adequately
considered sentencing evidence for Stokley.

Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder were raped and killed after they left a July 4th
holiday weekend community campout in Elfrida.